As Long As I'm Still Breathing
by Sienna Rain
Summary: They say that a dog is the only thing on Earth that loves you more than they love themselves. He's willing to prove it to her…even if it kills him. KibaxOC. One shot. Rated T for swearing. My first one shot. Complete.


As Long As I'm Still Breathing

**Mika's POV**

One beautiful evening in Konoha, Mika Shizuka was running through the near-empty streets. Today was a special day; she and her best friend were going to begin a mission together with one other person. This one was different, and Lady Tsunade wanted the three of them to go alone, without a sensei, on this one. Her best friend was pumped, as always, and all she could do was watch as the sun began to set.

Her best friend was Kiba Inuzuka, and they're complete opposites. He was loud, outgoing, and not afraid to tell you exactly what was on his mind. She was normally a bit on the quiet side, and liked to keep her opinions to herself, but around him she became _like_ him. They became friends because in the Academy, Iruka had always made them sit next to each other, since their names sounded alike. One day, he had talked to her, asking her if she had a pencil he could borrow. She had given him one, and they wrote notes to each other for the remainder of the day.

They had been friends ever since.

Mika had kept those notes, and she put them in a small jewelry box that she used only to keep her most precious things in order. Those and the pencil were symbols of their friendship, although Mika didn't exactly know what had become of the pencil, since Kiba had taken it. She couldn't help but notice that he never took it to school again, though.

Now, they had graduated and become ninja, and had grown over the course of only a few years. It was always a new challenge, always something new for them to do. Normally, Mika would go with the flow, but with him, he was always pushing her to try new things, and this A rank mission was one of them. However, she _still_ couldn't get over the fact that Lady Tsunade had sent the three of them, without a third member _or_ a Jonin, out on such a potentially dangerous mission, which was delivering secret documents to the Land of Tea's Daimyo.

They weren't allowed to look at those certain documents, and because they were so secret and important to the Land of Tea, they would probably be encountered by rouge ninja from other lands, trying to get their hands on these documents. Mika and Kiba had both agreed about letting their third member carry these secrets.

The third member was none other than Neji Hyuga; the guy that Mika liked. She had liked Neji ever since she met him in Lady Tsunade's office a few months ago. He was there on a mission, and his white eyes had pierced her like a blade. Mika had had an infatuation with him ever since, not that he gave her the time of day when he saw her, though. She'd try to start a conversation, but he'd blow it off like it was nothing, or tell her he had a mission and leave her standing there.

"_I can't wait until our mission. Lady Tsunade said that if we were going to make it in time, we would have to start out tonight. I wonder where that idiot could have run off to now." _Mika looked throughout the streets, passing every restaurant and residence to see if she could spot Kiba and maybe Neji. It didn't take long; Akamaru was the size of a bear now, and since he had a white coat, which reflected the sun in the hot summer days, it was hard to miss them.

Kiba had come bounding up to her, Akamaru by his side, "Mika-chan! What took you so long? It's time for us to go on this mission, and impress the hell out of Lady Tsunade so we can have a day off when we come back!" Mika couldn't help but laugh when he made a tired face, "Kiba, I swear… you're becoming more like Shikamaru every day! Don't be so lazy. I thought you'd be a bit more excited about a mission where there were no Jonin to pester us. Where did she say we were going… the Land of Tea?"

He nodded, perking up a bit, and then he smirked, "It's not _that_ far from here. I bet we can walk all the way there tonight and be there in the morning!" Mika smiled, _"As if he has the initiative. He'll be ready to quit in an hour or two."_ Happy that she knew her best friend better than even he knew himself, she said, "Yeah, sure. We'll just see who drops dead first!"

Mika felt almost free of gravity as Akamaru bolted in between her legs and got her onto his back, like normal. Kiba rolled his eyes, "Some days… I think Akamaru likes you more than me." Before Mika could answer, Akamaru let out a small whine, and he laughed, "Not on your life."

"What'd he say?" Mika asked, curious. But Kiba stuck her with a look that told her that he didn't want to tell her, so she'd let it be, and stow this memory away so she could use it against him some other time, when _he_ wanted to know something.

Neji walked up to the two of them and said, "Well, are you two done stalling? Because I'm ready to get this mission over with." His white eyes, angry, pierced Mika with the same feeling they did the first day that they met, and she felt her heart flutter.

"S-sorry, Neji," she suddenly stuttered. Before she could say anything else, though, Kiba sighed, "Yeah, let's just go." The three of them began to walk toward the gates of Konoha. Mika snuck a look at the heads of the previous and current Hokages, hoping that they'd come back safe and alive. Kiba glanced at her as Neji took the lead, "Heh… we'll be gone for a week tops!"

Mika smiled to him, and began to walk ahead after jumping off of the gigantic dog so she could walk alongside her comrades. She felt her best friend's presence next to her. "Hey… so, Mika-chan… I always wanted to ask you… do you… like someone?"

"_He can't know… can he?"_ Mika thought, flushing automatically. She wasn't quite sure if he had noticed her sudden change of behavior just now, since Neji was standing right next to her. "Um… I dunno. Maybe. Haven't really given it much thought." She traced Kiba's face with her eyes, "How about you?"

He looked embarrassed, like he couldn't answer the question, and sighed, "I guess I haven't thought about it either." The headstrong teen looked at Neji's back, "How about you?"

Neji turned around to reveal almost confused eyes, making Mika blush for a moment. Neji growled, "I don't take an interest in relationships." He turned back around, and Kiba egged him on, "C'mon, just tell us. It's not like we're gonna tell anyone, and, we're gonna have to get used to each other if we're going to spend the rest of the week together."

The white-eyed teen sighed, "I'm not going to say her name. She doesn't like me anyway, because she likes my teammate. So… whatever."

Mika felt her heart stop; it wasn't her. She didn't like Rock Lee… at least, not in that way. They barely talked anyway, and when they did, it was to say hello as they passed each other, or give training tips. Since they both focused on Taijutsu, they understood each other.

"Oh, alright. I'll figure it out some other time." Kiba was saying as Mika tuned back in. _"It's not me… what the hell should I have expected? Huh?"_ She asked herself inwardly, before feeling Akamaru's fur against her hand. Mika pet him for a moment, and heard Kiba's voice say to her, "We're gonna do great on this mission, Mika-chan! I can feel it!"

She smiled for a moment, but then looked away. Mika heard Kiba's confused voice as he asked Neji, "Hey… you sure you have those secret doc-" "Do you want _every tree_ in the damn _forest_ to know? Yeah, I have them. I'm not irresponsible."

**Kiba's POV**

He watched as Mika's face became depressed and almost hopeless. He _knew_ that his best friend had liked Neji Hyuga for a while, and was kind of upset when he realized that Neji broke her heart without even knowing it.

"_Heh. He better watch it; I'll tear those white eyes right out of his head."_ Kiba almost snorted at what he had thought just then, and looked over at poor little Mika. The sight of her always surprised him; he had always thought she was way too skinny to be a ninja… it looked almost life-threatening, but she had convinced him that she was a healthy weight and amazed him at how good she was at Taijutsu.

"_She almost matches me in Taijutsu. But hey… what can I expect, I mean, she trains with Lee sometimes. Mika-chan has gotta be good if he's willing to spar with her and not hold back."_

Her hair was… an unnatural color. Almost grey, like Kakashi's was. It was fairly long, too, going all the way down to her mid-thighs. Every day, Kiba wondered why she'd keep her hair that long if she was kicking people all day.

"Won't it get in the way?" He had asked her one day. Mika's small voice came out of her mouth as she bit her lip and met his dark, slanted eyes with her cerulean colored ones, "I'm used to it, that's all."

But he knew the real reason for her growing her hair out. Her hair was important to her. She didn't want to lose it, and she took amazing care of it. It shone beautifully against her light coco-colored skin tone, and Kiba was always jealous because she didn't need to tan.

Kiba couldn't help but think of the first time he met her, when she gave him a pencil in Iruka's class when he had asked for one. Normally, any _other_ girl would have said "Hell no!" or "Get away from me!" But she was nice enough to smile as she gave him one, and with that pencil, he wrote her a note, saying, "Thank you."

He smiled as he remembered all of the nice things she had said to him, and he played catch with her at recess. Smiling even wider, he remembered her jumping to catch the ball but falling over as she caught it, and when he asked her if she was ok, little Mika had just thrown the ball at him, hard, and told him she was fine and that he needed to stop treating her like a little kid.

"_I haven't seen her so fierce since then,"_ he commented to himself. Right after recess and before they went to class, Naruto had teased him about playing with a girl. Kiba remembered that he punched Naruto in the gut, not too hard, and told him to shut up because Mika was nice and that's all that mattered.

After that, the remainder of the day was spent note-passing, even though he knew that Mika wasn't usually one to do things like that during class. He had taken the pencil home and didn't use it again, because that pencil was still in his room, sitting right next to his bed. Back when he had first gotten Akamaru, he almost chewed it up, and he got put in the kennel for three days.

That pencil was a symbol of their friendship for him, and he remembered letting her keep the note that they had written on all throughout that day. _"I wonder what she did with it," _ He thought, as Neji stopped, "We're camping here for the night."

"Right," he heard Mika's voice as she headed through the trees. "I'll go get some firewood." Before he could follow her, Neji pointed to a nearby stream. "Here," he handed him three canteens. "Get some water. I'll focus on the tent."

Their apparent ringleader walked away, the tent in the pack on his back, and knelt down at the edge of the circle-like clearing they were in.

Akamaru whimpered to him, and Kiba just glared at the white dog, too angry to listen. _"Stupid Neji. Who the hell does he think he is? He's not the leader. He can't tell me what to do."_ Punching a sturdy-looking tree as he passed by it, he walked to the river to fill the canteens without arguing to anyone in particular.

**Mika's POV**

"_Get over it. Did you really think that HE would like YOU? What's the point of being upset about it? It's not gonna finish this mission any faster. It's not gonna help anyone."_

A pile of sticks and thicker branches was lying next to a wilted tree. "Poor tree," Mika muttered as she picked up the remnants of the branches and walked, slowly, back to the 'camp'.

When she arrived, the first thing she noticed was Neji fixing up the tent. He was almost done, when it hit her; they were all going to be sharing the same one. _"Damn," _she thought as she looked at the green tent. _"It's huge."_

Her best friend walked into the camp almost at the same time she did, and could only see anger in his posture. Akamaru walked beside him, the large dog's facial expression telling her that he had tried to reason with Kiba, but he didn't listen. That was actually kind of normal.

Once Neji was done, he glanced at her, his feeling-less eyes digging into her instead of sparking a fangirl moment, "Oh, good. I was wondering when you'd get back." Suddenly angry, she felt herself begin to shake as she refrained from beating her former flame into the ground.

Neji grabbed the pile of sticks from her and carried them to the middle of the clearing. Kiba looked up at that same moment, and he said, "Hey, Mika-chan! Come over here."

Mika almost couldn't put one foot in front of the other, and when she finally reached him, he smiled down at her, "Mika-chan… heh, we still didn't finish our contest from the other day." Suddenly, she felt a smile engulf her face; their contest was to see who could name the most parts of the body without repeating any, and whoever ran out of parts… loses.

"We'll continue this when we're eating, idiot. Prepare to lose." He sighed, "That'll be you."

"Liar."

"Truther."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"I don't speak idiot."

"Damn."

Kiba cursed, walking around her and sitting by Neji at the now-burning fire. Akamaru pushed his nose into her palm, making Mika pet him, and she walked over, the huge dog pressing close to her side as he sat down in between her and Kiba.

"How'd you get the fire burning so fast?" Kiba asked. "I dunno. I guess my branch-rubbing skills have gotten better." Neji said, sounding almost annoyed. "How could those branches get hot when you're so cold…?" Kiba muttered.

Suddenly, the song "This is why I'm hot" popped into Mika's head as she stifled her laughter by glancing at the ground.

"_This is why I'm hot, this is why I'm hot, this is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot. This is why I'm hot, this is why I'm hot, this is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot. I'm hot cuz I'm fly, you ain't cuz you not. This is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot. I'm hot cuz I'm fly, you ain't cuz you not. This is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot."_

Mika felt a small giggle escape her lips, and Akamaru sighed, obviously wanting to know what the matter was. She rubbed behind his ears and Neji handed her a plain ham-and-cheese sandwich. Kiba was suddenly on Mika's other side as he said, chewing on his sandwich, "Hm… big toe."

"Pinky toe."

"Index toe."

"Middle toe."

"Fourth toe that no one cares about."

Mika sighed, trying to think of a better part, and Neji said, "What the hell are you two doing?" Kiba answered for her, "Finishing a contest." Neji rolled his white eyes, looking very irritated now, "Well, if that's the case, I'll let the two of you do that." He nodded to the bag that was next to him, "One of you, make sure nothing happens to… the things in that bag. Ok?"

Kiba snorted, "We know. Go do whatever smartasses like you do." Mika could almost hear Neji huff as he stalked out of the camp. Kiba fell back, arms behind his head, "I'm sure as hell glad he's gone."

"Why?" Mika asked. Honestly, she didn't want him to be gone. _"No matter what I try, I'm probably always going to like him."_ "Mika-chan?" Kiba said her name sharply, trying to get her attention. "What? S-sorry…" She didn't like to be caught off guard when she was thinking about someone. It made her feel like her thoughts were intruded.

**Kiba's POV**

He had called her name twice, and she hadn't even looked at him or acknowledged his presence. It bothered him, in a way. Akamaru was snuggling up against her, giving him yet another impression that he liked Mika better than him, and he called her name sharply. "Mika-chan!"

She looked up at him, her cerulean eyes wide, "What? S-sorry…" Kiba couldn't help but notice how out of it she was acting. _"Mika is almost never like this. I wonder what's bothering her."_ But as soon as he thought those words, he knew exactly what was up. Two words; Neji Hyuga.

"_He shouldn't be manifesting her mind like that."_ "Nothing, Mika-chan. I'm just… I'm sorry that Neji doesn't like you back." He heard himself mutter the last part, only saying it to make her feel better. Kiba honestly couldn't stand it when Mika was sad, and hoped to cheer her up.

As he thought, her eyes widened, "Really?"

Confused, he asked, "Really what?"

Mika shook her head, "Nothing. I'm just… just surprised… that you knew. Was it really that obvious?"

Kiba shook his head; it was only obvious to him. He _was_ her best friend, and when she started to act differently around Neji a few weeks ago, he noticed. "No, not really. Just… the way you seemed upset after he told us… I just knew. Sorry, Mika-chan."

He searched her face for any form of happiness or laughter, like she had giggled only five minutes before, but found no traces of anything of the sort. "It's ok." She muttered, looking away. "He wouldn't like me anyway. Why would he? I mean, there's so many other Kunoichi in the village, and he's a year older than us. More options for him."

Without even trying to, he could sense that Mika was about to start crying. He took her hand, "I'm sorry. But… I think… I think I know one guy who likes you." Her head turned to him, making her long hair flow behind her as her short bangs fluttered away from her eyes, "Who might that be?" Kiba snorted, squeezing her hand harder, "Me. Of course, I'm supposed to like you. I mean, best friends and everything, right? Heh. Speaking of that, wanna finish up our game?"

Mika smiled at him, her white teeth illuminating the area around them, "Sure."

He started, "Heel."

"Calf."

"Knee."

"Leg."

"Thigh."

**Mika's POV**

She enjoyed Kiba's company, and liked how Kiba could always cheer her up. They kept naming off parts of the body, when she heard a surprised yelp.

Mika stopped, sensing danger, and Akamaru stood up, his fur on end, growling. Kiba's eyes grew round as he grabbed Neji's bag with the documents inside of them. "What is it, boy?" He asked. But suddenly, Neji came flying into the clearing, bound by his arms and feet.

An ominous voice followed him, "It's not just any rope, kid. You can't break free." Mika scooted further away from the entrance to the clearing, and thought, _"It's ok. We can beat them."_

One of the masked ninja smirked, "Alright. Where are those documents you kids have?" Reluctant to tell them, Mika scooted closer to Kiba, who growled, "You'll never find them."

"We're not stupid, you know," a second one said, seemingly irritated. "We know it's in the bag. Now, hand them over without a fight, and no one gets hurt!"

"No!" Mika heard her own, normally quiet voice explode from her mouth. "There's no way in _hell_ we're giving you these documents! We had a mission from Lady Tsunade, and we're gonna fulfill it! Right?" She turned to Kiba, who was staring at her with wide eyes, and he nodded.

Akamaru was still growling, making the first ninja growl, "This will be quick." The two dashed for her and Kiba, making Mika stand up on impulse. _"I'll die to protect my village."_ She heard Kiba stand up beside her as he handed her the sack with the documents inside, "Hold this and get Neji outta there. I can cover for you." He whispered.

"Thanks," she nodded, suddenly feeling empowered as she raced toward Neji.

**Kiba's POV**

He watched Mika run off toward Neji and prepared for a fight, "Let's go, Akamaru." The dog growled in agreement as he turned into a clone of himself. Hitting both of the enemies at the same time with Fang over Fang, he couldn't help but think, _"We're going to win the battle."_

Briefly pausing from beating the shit out of the two ninja, Kiba glanced over at Mika to see that she was steadily untying Neji. _"Ok."_ He thought, turning back to the two enemies. However, though, there was only one.

"_What?"_ His conscience raged, and Kiba looked above his head to see one of the ninja jumping over him, his weapon unsheathed, and was coming down straight toward Mika. _"Not gonna happen, bastard."_ Kiba felt his body move toward Mika, and he heard his voice come out of his mouth, "Mika, look out!"

Kiba reached her just in time, knowing exactly what was going to happen, and braced himself for it. That's when he felt it. Akamaru let out a high pitched whine, and Kiba looked around, everything seeming to be in slow motion.

Neji was standing up now, saying something to Mika, and he went off to face the two enemy ninja. Occupied by Neji, the two ninja took no notice of Kiba as he fell to his knees. _"At least… she didn't get hurt."_ He thought to himself, feeling a faint smile stain his face.

Mika was staring at him, her eyes wide, and she suddenly took in a deep breath, her eyes filling with tears. "Don't cry… Mika-chan," he heard his voice, softer than he had ever heard it become, hit his ears. "It's ok."

**Mika's POV**

She could already hardly believe that Kiba had just saved her by death by nearly killing himself already, but saying that it was ok made her lose it. "Damn it," she said, her voice cracking. Mika began to wipe her eyes, feeling her hands shaking.

Glancing over to make sure Neji was still standing, Mika felt nothing but guilt. If she'd watched what the hell she was doing, then Kiba wouldn't have gotten hurt. A sword of some sort had been pierced straight through his chest, and Mika was unsure if it had hit any vital organs.

His dark, shiny jacket was now even shinier with the dark liquid that was seeping through his clothing, and Mika could almost see the hole where the sword had exited through.

Kiba's eyes were almost glazed now, but she watched as he smiled gently, his voice getting soft, "As long as I'm still breathing, I won't let _anyone_ touch you. I promise, Mika-chan." _"He's not going to be breathing for long." _Mika's hand flew up to where her heart was, a habit that she did when she was in pain, and Kiba grabbed her hand before it could make it there.

"Mika-chan… I promise. I'll never let anything happen. I'll live. I'm not gonna… not gonna…" he paused as blood poured out of his mouth. "I'm not gonna die. I'll always be here… because… because I love you, Mika-chan. Ever since… that pencil… it's next to my bed… I'm not… gonna die… Mika-chan. I promise."

**Kiba's POV**

He had only weakly felt his face turn into a smile as he confessed to Mika that he loved her. He had never, _ever_, wanted to admit his feelings toward her, but seeing the circumstances, he had to. _"The deed is done," _he thought to himself. _"I guess you can die now."_

"_No_!" he heard an anguished scream from far away, but he knew it was Mika, his best friend… the one that he loved the most. His vision was blurring, and his hearing was fading, "No! You _can't_ die now! You told me you weren't going to! You _promised_! Please! You _have_ to stay with me!"

The sadness in her voice was overwhelming, and he felt her arms around him, but he was numb. He closed his eyes, _"If I'm going… to die… then I want to die in your arms."_ His thoughts faded away as he heard Akamaru's faint whimper, sounding tortured.

Kiba felt his head rest onto what he knew, by instinct, was Mika's head, and Kiba whispered, "I'm sorry…" Automatically, he felt his arms curl around her small, lithe body, and took a deep breath, _"I'll miss you, Mika-chan. I love you."_ Everything suddenly stopped. It was completely black, no sound, no light, nothing. All he knew was that Mika was safe, and that's all he needed to reassure him.

**Mika's POV**

She hadn't felt pain until the moment Kiba closed his eyes. It pierced her, like an icy spear, in the dead of winter. Crying uncontrollably, she hugged him tighter. _"Why'd he save me? I would have survived! He didn't have to die!"_

Mika almost didn't hear Neji come up behind her, "Is… is he…?" she asked, nearly inaudibly, as Neji positioned himself over her. "Byakugan!" He whispered, his eyes becoming fiercer in a second. It was silent for a moment as he shook his head, "No. He's not. But he will be if we don't hurry back to the village. Those ninja shouldn't be coming back anytime soon, and you protected the documents… it's not that far. I'll carry him."

Neji lifted Kiba off of her without any problem, and proceeded to hurry to the village, "Come on! I can see it from here!" Mika, accompanied by a sick-looking Akamaru, hurried back to the village. Once the gates were in sight, two guys, Izumo and Kotetsu, approached them.

"What the hell…?" Mika was surprised, yet again, when she heard her angry voice explode from her mouth, "Get Lady Tsunade. _Now_!" The group hurried, wasting no time, getting to the office. Within moments, Kiba was in a room, being treated.

"_He's gonna be ok,"_ Mika whispered to herself. _"He's ok. He said he wasn't going to die, so he's not! He's gonna be ok!"_ The more she told herself, the less she believed it, though. It was hours into the night, and Mika must have dozed off by the door.

Suddenly, she jolted awake, after having a sudden nightmare about the events that had just happened, but it quickly disappeared when she remembered that Kiba might have just died. Her breathing picked up, and Mika reached toward her heart.

"I'm sure he'll be fine, you know," said a voice behind her. Mika swiftly turned to see Neji sitting beside her. Any other day, she would have been thrilled. But in light of recent events, as well as realizing that he liked someone else, she wasn't.

"He won't!" she heard her own voice; suffering was the only emotion that could be deciphered inside of it. Neji looked very calm, "He will. If his willpower is up to par with his love for you, then he will." Mika was confused, "He can't love me for real. I mean… those could have been his dying words… he was rushed and everything… don't you think…"

But she stopped herself in the middle. Neji gave half a smirk, "Hmm. Well, I bet if you asked everyone who knows you two in this village, they'd be on my side. I don't know how all of these years you haven't noticed. I only actually met you a month or so ago. But… I have heard much about you two as being best friends. Like, how two years ago on Valentine's day… you didn't get one, so he bought you twenty flowers."

"H-how'd… how'd you know about…?" But Neji continued, "And, remember that time when that Naruto threatened to beat you up because you called him stupid? Mika, Kiba wanted to kick his ass. I heard that Choji had to hold him back when he was making open threats when you weren't around. I dunno if he got to him or not though."

Mika, her mind taken off the threat of Kiba dying for a moment, was thrown off. If Neji had only known her for a month, how'd he _know_ about things that happened two years ago? As if he read her mind, he smirked, "Huh. Well… the whole village has been going on about how you two should get together for at _least_ four years. I'm surprised you haven't caught wind of it by _now_."

Mika was shocked; how _did_ she not know about this? "I… I dunno…" she muttered. "I've never really thought about him in that way before. I mean… I've always kind of liked someone else… and he doesn't like me back…"

Neji's eyes shone brilliantly in the moonlight, "Huh. Was it me?" Mika's cheeks flushed, "Maybe. But it's not anymore, though," she added in, quickly. Neji smirked again, closing his eyes, "I know. I figured that telling you I liked someone else would get you off of my back and onto Kiba's, since obviously he cares about you more than anyone else probably ever could."

Mika's cheeks flushed again when she heard how Neji interpreted Kiba's feelings, and she said, "I just… I don't know. I've never thought about it…" Neji just shrugged, "Then think about it. Obviously we've got time."

Taking his advice, she sat silently, thinking over every single thing Kiba has done for her over the years. _"All he's done is take care of me. He's so considerate of my feelings, and always looked for an excuse to beat people into the ground for me. I always thought that was why he was just my best friend, but…"_

She paused, and then continued, her eyes closing, _"He loves me. He saved me because he loves me. I… I… I love him, too, I'm sure, but… when is that feeling supposed to show up?"_ But when she opened her eyes again, the sun was shining brightly into the small window in front of her.

Neji was still sitting beside her, "Well, well. Sleepyhead finally woke up!" Mika couldn't help but glare at him as she sighed, "Yeah. Well, um…" she bit her lip, thinking of the wonderful dream she had had the night before. Mika was sitting down on a park bench, and Kiba had walked up to her and kissed her on the cheek. After that, though, it had gotten a lot less civil, and much too embarrassing to describe.

"You stayed here all night, with no sleep?" She asked, pushing the dream out of her mind as she noted bags underneath Neji's eyes. He nodded and said, holding up the bag with the documents inside, "Hyuga's have great patience, but I better get these back to Shizune. She'll want them locked up for another day."

He stood up and walked away, Mika watching his back as he disappeared around the corner. It was silent, and Mika's fears suddenly came back; what if Kiba was dead? _Then _what would she do? Shaking, she sat in her seat, shaking.

**Kiba's POV**

Whatever was happening at the moment, seemed so real, it was surreal. He walked through different memories in his mind, knowing that he'd already experienced these events, but enjoyed every single one. Especially the ones with Mika in it.

"_I hope I'm not dead,"_ he thought, desperately. _"I want Mika-chan to hold me again, at least."_ His 'surreal-like' state was disrupted when his eyes opened. Light blinded him for a moment as he recognized Lady Tsunade working over him with a mask on.

"Don't panic," she said. "You're gonna be fine." Originally, he wasn't going to panic, but when he realized Mika, and Neji for that matter, weren't in the room, he squirmed, feeling no energy return to him, "Where's Mika-chan?" He growled.

Lady Tsunade must have smiled behind her mask, "I don't know. She's probably outside. You're safe in Konoha, Kiba." Relaxing at the thought, he looked to his side, seeing Akamaru laying there, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. But a heart-wrenching pain was felt and his eyes shot open.

A mute scream came out of his mouth as Lady Tsunade, his eyes hazing over again, pushed a red button on the side of the cot he was laying on. _"Dammit,"_ he began to pant. Akamaru was staring at him, worriedly, and Kiba couldn't help but think, as blood rushed to his mouth, _"Is this… the end?"_

**Mika's POV**

Suddenly, she felt it. Kiba was in pain. Worse pain than when he had gotten stabbed. It was a weird thing that the two of them developed, and she could sense when he was in physical pain, whereas he could sense emotional pain.

"_I hope he's ok… I… I couldn't do it… not seeing him again…"_ Tears rushed to her eyes at the thought of her best friend leaving her.

Medics suddenly rushed around her, pushing into the door where Kiba was being held. Longing to know what was happening, but also knowing that she _didn't_ want to know, Mika held her heart again, more tears rushing to her eyes.

"_I wish… I had developed feelings toward him… earlier… maybe then it wouldn't… hurt this much to lose him…"_

Tears were rolling down her cheeks, and as she wiped them off, all of the doctors that had rushed in walked out suddenly. In a slow manner… it made Mika realize that something must have happened.

After the last of them had passed, she tried to go through the door, but Lady Tsunade blocked the way. "Mika," she started, looking pretty upset. _"No."_ she thought, her tears threatening to go overboard. "I'm sorry. We couldn't save him. He died… just now."

Feeling grief overwhelm her, Mika fell to her knees. No tears came out this time, though. They were all gone. The knot in her stomach ricocheted around in her body, making her extremely queasy. _"He died… protecting me… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. If I could have protected myself, then maybe I would be able to save him."_

Lady Tsunade looked quite content now, "Would you like to go in and see him?" Desperately willing herself to say no, she backed away as she got to her feet, but her head nodded. Led into the room by Lady Tsunade, Mika was about to ask her something, but the door closed.

Her head snapped to the cot that was in front of her; there was a lump underneath the covers, and Mika approached it with caution. Ready to see what was underneath it, she lifted it up slowly, but it was only a pillow.

Confused, Mika turned to exit the room, when an arm coiled around her shoulders, familiarly. She looked up to see the greatest sight she's ever seen. Kiba was staring down at her, a smile on his face. "Hey, Mika-chan."

"_I'm dreaming. There's… there's no way he's able to… to talk to me! He's dead…"_ But he smirked, "You thought I was dead, didn't you." Normally, she probably would have told him how worried she was, but she hit him on the head, "You idiot!" Mika was fuming. "How _dare_ you fake your own death! That was so mean! So cruel… I-I thought you… we…"

She stopped talking as Kiba kissed her, his lips softer than any surface she had met previously, and when he pulled away, before she could ask why he had just did what he had done, he sighed, "Mika-chan… I told you I loved you, and that I wasn't _ever_ gonna die. Did you _really_ doubt me for a second?"

Feeling guilty, she nodded. Kiba then smiled, very softly, at her, and said, "It's ok. Probably… a lot to take in. But, check _this_ out!" He tore his hospital gown enough to reveal his stab wound, which was bandaged up good enough to keep more blood from rushing out. "I'll be good as new in, like, a month tops, Mika-chan! Then, we'll be able to ride Akamaru and go out for ice cream like we used to!"

Mika stopped to take him the happy face he was giving her. Never before had he ever, in his life, smiled this much. "W…why are you… smiling so much?" Her voice cracked on the last word, giving way to her previous scare, and Kiba snorted, "Nothing. I'm just glad it was _me_ that got hurt instead of you."

Confused, Mika asked, "Why is that?" Kiba's smile turned into a blank, thoughtful face, as he lifted her up onto the cot, jumped up next to her, with Akamaru at their backs, and said, "Well… honestly, if you had gotten hurt… I don't know what I would have done. I've… loved you… for a while now. Heh, and seeing you get hurt is something that I don't like to watch. Ok? I just want to… want to kill the people that hurt you, or do whatever the hell I can to make you happy."

He was silent for a moment, then he continued, "You know, Mika-chan… it's ok if you don't love me in the way that I love you. It'll hurt, but… but… I'll live. I'll still have you by my side, and that's exactly where I want you to be." Mika felt her heart jump at all of these confessions he was making. _"So sweet,"_ she thought.

However, Mika kissed him on the lips as his head turned to her, "It can grow, right?" Akamaru barked, signaling someone walking into the room, but before they could pull apart, a light flashed. Neji was standing there with a camera in his hand, Lady Tsunade, Shizune, and Tonton behind him. "Hmm. Looks as if I got it."

Neji was smirking, and Mika looked up at Kiba, "So… Kiba… um…" but the headstrong idiot was already standing up, "You wanna delete that picture, Hyuga?" "Not on your life, Inuzuka." That's when the Byakugan user hauled ass down the hallway, and Lady Tsunade shook her head, "I _knew_ you two would make a good couple."

She and Shizune both closed the door as they walked away, leaving Kiba prone to chase them, but Mika grabbed his arm. He whipped around, probably about to tell her something, but was silenced as their lips met; Mika found that she herself was becoming addicted to them, and Kiba pushed her away, playing with her silvery hair, "Mika-chan," he cooed. "We never finished our game."

"Bridge of the nose!" She smiled as he caressed her cheek.

"Tongue."

"Nose."

"Forehead."

"Lips."

And with that, he began to kiss her again, "Looks like you win, Mika-chan." He murmured.

So it WAS a happy ending! Gotcha! Thought I was gonna make him die, didn't you? Hah, I was on the fence about him dying or not, but I decided that he wasn't going to! I'm such a sucker for happy endings, and it's too depressing to think of character death D: But anyway, yeah, I know, this was a pretty long one-shot, but it was pretty fun to write! I hope you all enjoyed it as well! :) How corny can I get? I'm a sucker for that stuff, too! Rate/Review!


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